


we can stay at home and watch the sunset

by moonbeamlex



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Canon Asexual Character, Cuddling & Snuggling, Found Family, M/M, jet being aroace is mentioned in regards to his relationships, juno and rita are so touch starved please help them, mostly jet and rita and juno cuddling, s3 crime family bonding, with some cute jupeter and buddyvespa moments sprinkled in
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:34:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24295174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonbeamlex/pseuds/moonbeamlex
Summary: His favorite nights were the nights when the routine was slightly disrupted, however. Nights when Ransom and Buddy were up later than normal talking, so Juno was displaced.
Relationships: Peter Nureyev/Juno Steel
Comments: 23
Kudos: 213





	we can stay at home and watch the sunset

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this at one in the morning after going off on twitter with arjun and ez. you can blame them. 
> 
> society has moved past the need for angst. there is only cuddling now. 
> 
> title is from are you bored yet? by wallows.  
> find me on twitter, crying about my love for juno steel, at @myhistoryread or on tumblr at @darkacademiaarchivist

Jet really liked watching streams with Rita. He liked the way she explained the story as if he wasn’t paying attention (he assumed that came from the fact she spent most of her time previously either watching alone or with Juno). He liked the fact that she always seemed to have snacks on her, because Jet really liked popcorn. He didn’t really love when the streams were a bit too familiar, maybe a little too close to home, but he liked the way Rita looked at him afterwards.

He didn’t even mind answering questions about those streams and just how similar they were to the real thing, when Rita was the one that was asking. Perhaps the way she looked at him like he was a movie star maybe played a slight role in that. It was flattering, even if the times he was describing were often days he almost wished he could forget.

However, the part that Jet liked most about watching late night streams with Rita was how peaceful he felt. The stream couldn’t be very loud, so as not to disturb the others, but it didn’t seem to matter much. Jet sometimes wondered if Rita already knew the words already. Rita was clearly a tactile person, maybe bordering on touch starved although she would clearly never say it out loud and risk hurting Juno’s feelings. Jet understood. Rita and Juno were each other’s family before they were his family, but they also had a professional relationship and physical touch and professional relationships could be hard to balance.

The professional side of their relationship was completely changed, if not outright destroyed at this part, but precedent kicked in and Rita had found Jet as a suitable vessel to unleash her affection onto. Jet wasn’t used to it at first, had never really known if he was moving his hands right or if his knee was causing discomfort, Rita didn’t seem to mind, though. It had started as tentatively as he thought Rita could get, but once she realized Jet not only tolerated, but enjoyed, her touch she would curl into his side almost every night, bowl of whatever snack she had found that night placed just out of reach so she wouldn’t accidentally knock it over. It was warm and comforting. He liked running a hand up and down Rita’s back, knowing that it comforted her as well but there weren’t any underlying… expectations.

He had worried about that, at first. How to make sure his cards were on the table. He cared about his new family, would lay down his life for them, but even though he and Rita got on better than anyone else Jet had ever met, he couldn’t ever be  _ that  _ for her. He was sure one day Rita would fall in love, meet someone truly special, and he wished for that day for her. Part of him even wished it could be with him. But Rita had handled it well. He had felt bad for worrying, by the time Rita had made it clear that if all Jet wanted was friendship, companionship, a  _ family _ then that was all she wanted as well.

If she had been upset about any of it, she had never let Jet see. He was thankful for that. He couldn’t change the way he felt, would not apologize for not feeling the need for those sorts of relationships, but he would have felt bad about hurting Rita’s feelings. But nothing had changed. She was still around every day, chattering at him while he worked and keeping him company consistently throughout the day. 

It was interesting, Jet often found himself thinking, how easily everyone had fallen into each other. He often stumbled upon Buddy and Vespa, hand in hand or whispering soft words to each other. They fit together so well that he could not imagine them parted, even though their reunion was so recent. Ransom and Juno were...loud, but seemingly happy. Jet often saw Ransom watching Juno go about his daily tasks, menial things like arguing with the coffee maker, and the look in Ransom’s eyes was foreign to Jet himself but intense enough not to be mistaken. 

It wasn’t three pairs, however, making up the ship. Juno and Rita were, possibly a little codependent, but either way, very strongly attached. Buddy and Ransom had long talks, into the night, long enough to displace Juno for a long enough timeframe that he ended up grumpy. Jet found that even Vespa was loosening around them, letting her guard down when she felt comfortable enough. He quite liked Vespa’s company and he felt sure that, with time, the rest would as well.

They had started to eat dinner together on the ship whenever they could. It didn’t always end well, there were enough hot heads and smart mouths to go around, but Jet imagined no family was perfect.

And at night, once others had drifted to their rooms and made their excuses to retire for the night, he had Rita. She usually stayed curled into his side for hours, talking about whatever was happening on the monitor, before falling asleep. But it eventually happened. Every night, Rita would fall asleep against his chest. 

It was nice. He didn’t know if he accurately had the words to describe it, if he could really explain the warmth it stoked inside of him. He would always wait for a length of time, just enough to make sure that the sleep was steady and she wouldn’t be awoken by his movement. If he moved too soon, she’d be awake for hours more, and while he appreciated her dedication to film. they did usually have somewhere to be or something to do in the morning. So he waited, past the time her eyes first closed to the time her breaths fully evened out.

And then he carried her. Her room wasn’t very far from the couch, not an inconvenience, and she would sleep much better in her bed then on the couch. The. Jet would retire to his own bed. A routine. A part of Jet’s life that he genuinely enjoyed, looked forward to even. 

His favorite nights were the nights when the routine was slightly disrupted however. Nights when Ransom and Buddy were up later than normal talking, so Juno was displaced. He usually came to them already in his pajamas, sweatpants that looked like they were old enough that Jet was shocked they were whole and a soft shirt that looked too big on him, big enough that it was usually sliding down one shoulder. Probably Ransom’s, judging by the smell. He would sit on the edge of the couch, sometimes pouting, sometimes a little too snarky for his own good.

Rita would curl into Jet’s side and Juno would snort and roll his eyes. He made comments about whatever stream was currently on the monitor, sometimes antagonizing Rita on purpose to get her riled up and off on a tangent about how he was wrong and how her proof he was wrong tied back to at least seven other streams.

Jet was fond of Juno when he was in those moods, clearly on the edge of  _ something _ and wanting Rita’s voice to calm him down, refusing to just admit it and instead going off about an unimportant detail of the narration. Rita never seemed to realize that Juno arguing meant he was paying more attention than he claimed to be. Jet liked hearing them argue. The love they had for each other was clear in the voices, even as they bickered back and forth, with Jet between them on the couch.

Eventually they would die down, and Juno would settle more firmly into the couch. He’d actually help himself to the snacks, despite saying he wasn’t hungry when he came in. He always got much more invested in the streams than he wanted to portray, Jet could tell by the way he narrowed his eyes in intense moments and visibly relaxed once conflict was resolved. 

Juno’s eyes would grow heavy almost in time with Rita’s, like they were so in sync their bodies gave into tiredness at the same time. It was sometime after Juno’s first yawn of the night that Jet could expect him to shuffle closer, to let his guard down and start making the slow progression into letting himself be touched and comforted. 

At first, his body would lean just slightly into Jet’s space, as if seeking out warmth. Physical affection did not look natural on Juno. He was always stiff at first, eyes darting around like he was planning his escape. After some time with no threat, he would eventually relax, let Jet wrap an arm around his shoulders the same way he did to Rita. But it always took time. Once he had relaxed, Juno was almost an entirely different person. Jet wondered how many people outside the ship had seen Juno this way. He did not think there were many. 

Having Juno and Rita mirror each other, bodies curled towards each other while they struggled to keep their eyes on the monitor, was one of Jet’s favorite moments. Rita was always the first to actually succumb to sleep, and Jet knew this only because Juno would inevitably snort and mutter something about Rita being a lightweight before immediately falling asleep after. 

Rita and Juno had an amazing bond that Jet would say be envied, if he did not have a bond with each of them as well. 

It was harder to judge when exactly was the correct time to move from the couch and head to bed when there were two chests he had to monitor for breathing, two sets of limbs he had to maneuver correctly to get them firmly in his arms without waking them up in the process. 

The first step was always Juno. It was a safe bet that if Juno was with them for the night, it was because he did not want to be alone but Ransom was busy. Most nights, then, that meant dropping Juno off in Ransom’s room, on Ransom’s bed. The other man was always awake when Jet showed up with Juno in one arm and Rita in the other. 

Usually, he was reading, his glasses still on. “Here,” Jet would say as Ransom put his book down and stood from the bed, “take him.” The transfer from Jet’s arms to Ransom’s arms never went as easily as the transfer from the couch. Juno never seemed to mind, though, blinking awake as Peter moved him to the bed. The smile on his face was private enough Jet would almost think he was not meant to see it if Juno didn’t always directly address him before Jet could leave, give a soft “goodnight,” clearly still sleep drunk and seemingly trying to burrow into Ransom’s chest.

Jet would leave them, usually starting a conversation about something or other despite the fact that they should clearly just sleep, despite the fact that Juno’s eyes were barely open, and move to Rita’s room. He was not shocked Rita always slept through the interactions with Ransom and Juno. He almost envied her power to fall asleep and stay firmly asleep, no matter what was happening around her. Rita’s room always felt more cozy than Jet thought it should for as little time as the woman spent in it. He could count on one hand the amount of times Rita had actually fallen asleep in her own bed, but the room still felt comfortable. Lived in, in a way Jet wasn’t sure his own did.

Since Rita didn’t have anyone to tuck her into bed the way Juno did, Jet would do it himself. The nights where he was feeling a little more overwhelmed, a little more sentimental than normal he would follow this up with a soft kiss to Rita’s forehead, Rita was a heavy sleeper, though. Unlike Juno, she always slept through it. 

Jet would retreat to his own room, then. He didn’t mind being alone. There were no nights he laid awake in bed wishing there was someone at his side, in his bed. That was simply not how Jet’s brain worked. His dreams were not bothered, or not more bothered than usual, by solidarity. 

However Jet wouldn’t deny that the moment in the morning when he entered the kitchen and saw Juno and Rita passing a cereal box back and forth and bickering over who got to keep the cheap trinket at the bottom, while Ransom kept half his attention on Juno’s antics and the other half on the quiet conversation he and Buddy were having over their cups of coffee, while Vespa was still half asleep and pressed into Buddy’s side, face buried in her partner’s neck to hide the fact that her eyes were still closed…

It always felt much nicer to be surrounded by his family. 


End file.
